Preface

This guide is for people who administer the operation of an Oracle Database system. Referred to as database administrators (DBAs), they are responsible for creating Oracle Database, ensuring its smooth operation, and monitoring its use.

This preface contains these topics:

• Audience

• Organization

• Related Documentation

• Conventions

• Documentation Accessibility

  
  

  Note: The Oracle Database Administrator's Guide contains information that describes the features and functionality of the Oracle Database Standard Edition, Oracle Database Enterprise Edition, and Oracle Database Personal Edition products. These products have the same basic features. However, several advanced features are available only with the Oracle Database Enterprise Edition or Oracle Database Personal Edition, and some of these are optional. For example, to create partitioned tables and indexes, you must have the Oracle Database Enterprise Edition or Oracle Database Personal Edition. For information about the differences between the various editions of Oracle Database and the features and options that are available to you, please refer to Oracle Database New Features.

  
  

Audience

Readers of this guide are assumed to be familiar with relational database concepts. They are also assumed to be familiar with the operating system environment under which they are running Oracle Database.

Readers Interested in Installation and Upgrade Information

Administrators frequently participate in installing the Oracle Database server software and upgrading an existing Oracle Database to newer formats (for example, Oracle9i database to Oracle Database 10g format). This guide is not an installation or upgrade manual.

If your primary interest is installation, see your operating system specific Oracle installation guide.

If your primary interest is upgrading a database or application, see the Oracle Database Upgrade Guide.

Readers Interested in Application Design Information

In addition to administrators, experienced users of Oracle Database and advanced database application designers might also find information in this guide useful.

However, database application developers should also see the Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals and the documentation for the tool or language product they are using to develop Oracle Database applications.

Organization

This document contains:

Part I, " Basic Database Administration"

Chapter 1, " Overview of Administering an Oracle Database"

This chapter serves as a general introduction to typical tasks performed by database administrators, such as installing software and planning a database.

Chapter 2, " Creating an Oracle Database"

This chapter discusses considerations for creating a database and takes you through the steps of creating one. Consult this chapter when in the database planning and creation stage.

Chapter 3, " Starting Up and Shutting Down "

Consult this chapter when you wish to start up a database, alter its availability, or shut it down. Parameter files related to starting up and shutting down are also described here.

Chapter 4, " Managing Oracle Database Processes"

This chapter helps you to identify different Oracle Database processes, such as dedicated server processes and shared server processes. Consult this chapter when configuring, modifying, tracking and managing processes.

Part II, " Oracle Database Structure and Storage "

Chapter 5, " Managing Control Files"

This chapter describes all aspects of managing control files: naming, creating, troubleshooting, and dropping control files.

Chapter 6, " Managing the Redo Log"

This chapter describes all aspects of managing the online redo log: planning, creating, renaming, dropping, or clearing redo log files.

Chapter 7, " Managing Archived Redo Logs"

Consult this chapter for information about archive modes and tuning archiving.

Chapter 8, " Managing Tablespaces"

This chapter provides guidelines to follow as you manage tablespaces, and describes how to create, manage, alter, drop and move data between tablespaces.

Chapter 9, " Managing Datafiles and Tempfiles"

This chapter provides guidelines to follow as you manage datafiles, and describes how to create, change, alter, rename and view information about datafiles.

Chapter 10, " Managing the Undo Tablespace"

Consult this chapter to learn how to manage undo space using an undo tablespace.

Part III, " Automated File and Storage Management "

Chapter 11, " Using Oracle-Managed Files"

This chapter describes how you can direct the Oracle Database server to create and manage your database files

Chapter 12, " Using Automatic Storage Management"

This chapter briefly discusses some of the concepts behind Automatic Storage Management and describes how to use it.

Part IV, " Schema Objects"

Chapter 13, " Managing Space for Schema Objects"

Consult this chapter for descriptions of common tasks, such as setting storage parameters, deallocating space and managing space.

Chapter 14, " Managing Tables"

Consult this chapter for general table management guidelines, as well as information about creating, altering, maintaining and dropping tables.

Chapter 15, " Managing Indexes"

Consult this chapter for general guidelines about indexes, including creating, altering, monitoring and dropping indexes.

Chapter 16, " Managing Partitioned Tables and Indexes"

Consult this chapter to learn about partitioned tables and indexes and how to create and manage them.

Chapter 17, " Managing Clusters"

Consult this chapter for general guidelines to follow when creating, altering, or dropping clusters.

Chapter 18, " Managing Hash Clusters"

Consult this chapter for general guidelines to follow when creating, altering, or dropping hash clusters.

Chapter 19, " Managing Views, Sequences, and Synonyms"

This chapter describes all aspects of managing views, sequences and synonyms.

Chapter 20, " General Management of Schema Objects"

This chapter covers more varied aspects of schema management. The operations described in this chapter are not unique to any one type of schema objects. Consult this chapter for information about analyzing objects, truncation of tables and clusters, database triggers, integrity constraints, and object dependencies.

Chapter 21, " Detecting and Repairing Data Block Corruption"

This chapter describes methods for detecting and repairing data block corruption.

Part V, " Database Security "

Chapter 22, " Managing Users and Securing the Database"

This chapter discusses the importance of establishing a security policy for your database and users.

Part VI, " Database Resource Management and Task Scheduling"

Chapter 23, " Managing Automatic System Tasks Using the Maintenance Window"

This chapter describes how to take advantage of automatic system tasks.

Chapter 24, " Using the Database Resource Manager"

This chapter describes how to use the Database Resource Manager to allocate resources.

Chapter 25, " Moving from DBMS_JOB to DBMS_SCHEDULER"

This chapter describes how to take statements created with DBMS_JOB and rewrite them using DBMS_SCHEDULER

Chapter 26, " Overview of Scheduler Concepts"

Oracle Database provides advanced scheduling capabilities through the database Scheduler. This chapter introduces you to its concepts.

Chapter 27, " Using the Scheduler"

This chapter describes how to use the Scheduler.

Chapter 28, " Administering the Scheduler"

This chapter covers the tasks a database administrator needs to perform so end users can schedule jobs using the Scheduler.

Part VII, " Distributed Database Management "

Chapter 29, " Distributed Database Concepts"

This chapter describes the basic concepts and terminology of Oracle Database distributed database architecture.

Chapter 30, " Managing a Distributed Database"

This chapter describes how to manage and maintain a distributed database system.

Chapter 31, " Developing Applications for a Distributed Database System"

This chapter describes considerations important when developing an application to run in a distributed database system.

Chapter 32, " Distributed Transactions Concepts"

This chapter describes what distributed transactions are and how Oracle Database maintains their integrity.

Chapter 33, " Managing Distributed Transactions"

This chapter describes how to manage and troubleshoot distributed transactions.

Related Documentation

For more information, see these Oracle resources:

• Oracle Database Concepts

  This book is a starting point to become familiar with the concepts and terminology of the Oracle Database server, and is recommended reading before attempting the tasks described in the Oracle Database Administrator's Guide.

• Oracle Database Backup and Recovery Basics

  This book provides an overview of backup and recovery and discusses backup and recovery strategies. It provides instructions for basic backup and recovery of your database using Recovery Manager (RMAN).

• Oracle Database Backup and Recovery Advanced User's Guide

  This guide covers more advanced database backup and recovery topics, including performing user-managed backup and recovery for users who choose not to use RMAN.

• Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide

  This book exposes important considerations in setting up a database system and can help you understand tuning your database. It is mainly conceptual, defining terms, architecture, and design principles, and then outlines proactive and reactive tuning methods.

• Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide

  This book can be used as a reference guide for tuning your Oracle Database system.

• Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals

  Many of the tasks done by DBAs are shared by application developers. In some cases, descriptions of tasks seemed better located in an application level book, and in those cases, this fundamentals book is the primary reference.

Many of the examples in this book use the sample schemas of the seed database, which is installed by default when you install Oracle Database. Refer to Oracle Database Sample Schemas for information on how these schemas were created and how you can use them yourself.

Printed documentation is available for sale in the Oracle Store at

http://oraclestore.oracle.com/

To download free release notes, installation documentation, white papers, or other collateral, please visit the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). You must register online before using OTN; registration is free and can be done at

http://otn.oracle.com/membership/

If you already have a username and password for OTN, then you can go directly to the documentation section of the OTN Web site at

http://otn.oracle.com/documentation

Conventions

This section describes the conventions used in the text and code examples of this documentation set. It describes:

• Conventions in Text

• Conventions in Code Examples

• Conventions for Windows Operating Systems

Conventions in Text

We use various conventions in text to help you more quickly identify special terms. The following table describes those conventions and provides examples of their use.

Convention	Meaning	Example
Bold	Bold typeface indicates terms that are defined in the text or terms that appear in a glossary, or both.	When you specify this clause, you create an index-organized table.
Italics	Italic typeface indicates book titles or emphasis.	Oracle Database Concepts Ensure that the recovery catalog and target database do not reside on the same disk.
UPPERCASE monospace (fixed-width) font	Uppercase monospace typeface indicates elements supplied by the system. Such elements include parameters, privileges, datatypes, RMAN keywords, SQL keywords, SQL*Plus or utility commands, packages and methods, as well as system-supplied column names, database objects and structures, usernames, and roles.	You can specify this clause only for a NUMBER column. You can back up the database by using the BACKUP command. Query the TABLE_NAME column in the USER_TABLES data dictionary view. Use the DBMS_STATS.GENERATE_STATS procedure.
lowercase monospace (fixed-width) font	Lowercase monospace typeface indicates executables, filenames, directory names, and sample user-supplied elements. Such elements include computer and database names, net service names, and connect identifiers, as well as user-supplied database objects and structures, column names, packages and classes, usernames and roles, program units, and parameter values. Note: Some programmatic elements use a mixture of UPPERCASE and lowercase. Enter these elements as shown.	Enter sqlplus to open SQL*Plus. The password is specified in the orapwd file. Back up the datafiles and control files in the /disk1/oracle/dbs directory. The department_id, department_name, and location_id columns are in the hr.departments table. Set the QUERY_REWRITE_ENABLED initialization parameter to true. Connect as oe user. The JRepUtil class implements these methods.
lowercase italic monospace (fixed-width) font	Lowercase italic monospace font represents placeholders or variables.	You can specify the parallel_clause. Run Uold_release.SQL where old_release refers to the release you installed prior to upgrading.

Conventions in Code Examples

Code examples illustrate SQL, PL/SQL, SQL*Plus, or other command-line statements. They are displayed in a monospace (fixed-width) font and separated from normal text as shown in this example:

SELECT username FROM dba_users WHERE username = 'MIGRATE';

The following table describes typographic conventions used in code examples and provides examples of their use.

Convention	Meaning	Example
[ ]	Brackets enclose one or more optional items. Do not enter the brackets.	DECIMAL (digits [ , precision ])
{ }	Braces enclose two or more items, one of which is required. Do not enter the braces.	{ENABLE | DISABLE}
|	A vertical bar represents a choice of two or more options within brackets or braces. Enter one of the options. Do not enter the vertical bar.	{ENABLE | DISABLE} [COMPRESS | NOCOMPRESS]
...	Horizontal ellipsis points indicate either: That we have omitted parts of the code that are not directly related to the example That you can repeat a portion of the code	CREATE TABLE ... AS subquery; SELECT col1, col2, ... , coln FROM employees;
. . .	Vertical ellipsis points indicate that we have omitted several lines of code not directly related to the example.	SQL> SELECT NAME FROM V$DATAFILE; NAME ------------------------------------ /fsl/dbs/tbs_01.dbf /fs1/dbs/tbs_02.dbf . . . /fsl/dbs/tbs_09.dbf 9 rows selected.
Other notation	You must enter symbols other than brackets, braces, vertical bars, and ellipsis points as shown.	acctbal NUMBER(11,2); acct CONSTANT NUMBER(4) := 3;
Italics	Italicized text indicates placeholders or variables for which you must supply particular values.	CONNECT SYSTEM/system_password DB_NAME = database_name
UPPERCASE	Uppercase typeface indicates elements supplied by the system. We show these terms in uppercase in order to distinguish them from terms you define. Unless terms appear in brackets, enter them in the order and with the spelling shown. However, because these terms are not case sensitive, you can enter them in lowercase.	SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM employees; SELECT * FROM USER_TABLES; DROP TABLE hr.employees;
lowercase	Lowercase typeface indicates programmatic elements that you supply. For example, lowercase indicates names of tables, columns, or files. Note: Some programmatic elements use a mixture of UPPERCASE and lowercase. Enter these elements as shown.	SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM employees; sqlplus hr/hr CREATE USER mjones IDENTIFIED BY ty3MU9;

Conventions for Windows Operating Systems

The following table describes conventions for Windows operating systems and provides examples of their use.

Convention	Meaning	Example
Choose Start >	How to start a program.	To start the Database Configuration Assistant, choose Start > Programs > Oracle - HOME_NAME > Configuration and Migration Tools > Database Configuration Assistant.
File and directory names	File and directory names are not case sensitive. The following special characters are not allowed: left angle bracket (<), right angle bracket (>), colon (:), double quotation marks ("), slash (/), pipe (|), and dash (-). The special character backslash (\) is treated as an element separator, even when it appears in quotes. If the file name begins with \\, then Windows assumes it uses the Universal Naming Convention.	c:\winnt"\"system32 is the same as C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32
C:\>	Represents the Windows command prompt of the current hard disk drive. The escape character in a command prompt is the caret (^). Your prompt reflects the subdirectory in which you are working. Referred to as the command prompt in this manual.	C:\oracle\oradata>
Special characters	The backslash (\) special character is sometimes required as an escape character for the double quotation mark (") special character at the Windows command prompt. Parentheses and the single quotation mark (') do not require an escape character. Refer to your Windows operating system documentation for more information on escape and special characters.	C:\>exp scott/tiger TABLES=emp QUERY=\"WHERE job='SALESMAN' and sal<1600\" C:\>imp SYSTEM/password FROMUSER=scott TABLES=(emp, dept)
HOME_NAME	Represents the Oracle home name. The home name can be up to 16 alphanumeric characters. The only special character allowed in the home name is the underscore.	C:\> net start OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener
ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_BASE	In releases prior to Oracle8i release 8.1.3, when you installed Oracle Database components, all subdirectories were located under a top level ORACLE_HOME directory. For Windows NT, the default location was C:\orant. This release complies with Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA) guidelines. All subdirectories are not under a top level ORACLE_HOME directory. There is a top level directory called ORACLE_BASE that by default is C:\oracle. If you install the latest Oracle Database release on a computer with no other Oracle software installed, then the default setting for the first Oracle home directory is C:\oracle\orann, where nn is the latest release number. The Oracle home directory is located directly under ORACLE_BASE. All directory path examples in this guide follow OFA conventions. Refer to Oracle Database Platform Guide for Windows for additional information about OFA compliances and for information about installing Oracle products in non-OFA compliant directories.	Go to the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\rdbms\admin directory.

Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For additional information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at

http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/

Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

JAWS, a Windows screen reader, may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, JAWS may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation

This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.